Start Up Loans Ambassadors 2023/2024

A business offering scuba-diving off the coast of Northern Ireland, a 3D printing business from Wales that exports internationally, a cat café and a Scottish tech firm with a long-distance ultrafast camera used in the space industry are among 12 businesses appointed as this year’s Ambassadors for our Start Up Loans programme.

The annual Start Up Loans Ambassadors programme, now in its eighth year, celebrates exceptional business owners who have followed their ambition of becoming their own boss after receiving support from Start Up Loans.

Drawn from each of the UK’s 12 Nations and Regions, our Start Up Loans Ambassadors reflect the broad diversity and ambition of the nation’s smaller business sector at a grass roots level. More details of the businesses selected from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England’s regions can be found further below.

The Start Up Loans programme was established as a £10 million pilot scheme by Lord Young in 2012, in the shadow of the financial crisis. His vision was to enable more young people to achieve their dream of setting up their own business, by offering affordable loans and expert advice to those who might otherwise struggle to access funding.

Since then, the programme has delivered more than 105,000 loans to business owners across the UK, amounting to more than £1bn of funding, while expanding to support entrepreneurs of all ages. 40% of loan recipients have been women and 20% people from minority ethnic backgrounds.